


Shattered Mirriors

by annpar2009



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Dimension, Evil Kanan Jarrus, Evil Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ezra Bridger Needs a Hug, Good Darth Maul, Opposite World, Other, Shattered Glass
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27490954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annpar2009/pseuds/annpar2009
Summary: Ezra escapes an Imperial ship, once he reunites with Kanan again, he can't help but feel something isn't right.Everything looks the same, everyone act's the same or so he thinks.Come and find out what happens next.
Relationships: Ezra Bridger & Darth Maul, Ezra Bridger & Kanan Jarrus, Master and student - Relationship, master and apprentice - Relationship
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

Ezra was stuck in a cell and was desperately trying to find a way out, okay so last mission didn’t go so well when it came to transporting resources to other rebel cells, it seemed like Kallus deserved more credit then he was given for. 

“Not the time to get distracted,” Ezra told himself and tried to look for a way out, even looking if the vents were big enough for him but sadly they weren't. 

Taking a deep breath, he would need to get out the hard way and there was no way he was about to sit and wait until they reached Lothal and meet Thrawn. 

“Right, so my only exit is the door which is probably guarded by two troopers,” Ezra said sarcastically and walked over to it. “Shouldn’t be even a challenge taking them down” 

Standing now in front of the door, Ezra reached out through the Force and waved his hand. soon enough the door opened and the stormtroopers looked surprised when Ezra jumped out and force pushed them both into his cell and closed the door right after. 

“Yeah easy, now for the hard part ” Ezra muttered to himself and started to run down the hallways of the ship.

While running, Ezra took out his lightsaber just in case. He had hidden it inside his helmet when he got captured and the stormtroopers, having been none the wiser, allowed him to keep his helmet much to his surprise. Either way, he held his lightsaber firm and had put on this helmet as he ran.

“Hey! You’re not supposed to be here!” yelled a stormtrooper Infront yelled who had just entered the hallway. 

“Surrender!” another stormtrooper ordered and started firing at Ezra. 

Ezra dodged the first shot's and reflected the rest back at the soldier who got hit and fell to the floor. 

“No no, I worked too hard for this promotion!” the trooper said in disbelief. he knew pretty soon he would also lie on the floor unconscious, it didn’t matter what he did. 

Ezra ran forward and sliced his weapon in half and then pushed the right at the head that sent him flying back and fell unconscious on the floor. 

“Sorry, it’s either you or me,” Ezra said before continuing running down the hall. he had been on imperials ships before rescuing Kanan, so finding a way out shouldn't be so hard if he wasn’t running out of time, he didn’t know when the ship would arrive at Lothal, it could be any moment. 

But his memory of this ship was a bit foggy to say at the least. If he could get to the hanger he could just steal a ship and meet with his family. Now looking at the end of the corridor there were two paths, one left and another right. 

“Was it left or was is maybe right?” Ezras asked himself, a bit unsure with which path to take. 

“Stop right there you rebel scum!” a voice yelled from behind him. 

“I guess left it is then” Ezra ignited his lightsaber and deflected the shots and then ran left going down that path and having no idea what lies ahead. 

Ezra ran as fast his legs could carry him and came across the escape pods and smiled “well that will work.” 

Wasting no time he walked inside one and prepared it for launching, Ezra looked, through the glass and saw that the ship was still in hyperspace and started to have second thoughts. Launching an escape pod during hyperspace travel wasn’t the greatest idea.

Loud knocking and turned around to see the many stormtroopers outside his escape pod. 

“I’m taking my chances” Ezra quickly sat down in the chair and launched the escape pod. The light blue, white colours flared for a moment before followed by the darkness of space as he existed from hyperjump. 

Ezra could only sit tight as the escape pod rolled out of control in space. He reached out to the panel and pressed a button to stabilize the pod and soon enough, it stopped spinning and the pod continued to project forward. 

Feeling a bit sick from the spinning, Ezra slowly looked at the window and saw a planet, what had caught his attention was that fact that the pod seemed to be heading straight for said planet. 

“Oh great” he muttered, not looking forward to that at all, but at least it did beat the Empire. 

Pretty soon enough the escape pod entered the planet’s atmosphere and Ezra held tightly onto his seat, hoping that the landing wouldn’t be too rough. When the escape pod did crash into the sandy surface of the desert planet, it fortunately remained in one piece.

Opening the escape pod Ezra breathed in the fresh air and looked around for any sign of life and hopefully a way off this planet, but he couldn’t spot any cities or anything. there was nothing, not even a hint or greenery or water for miles. 

“This could be a problem,” Ezra murmured to himself and went back inside the pod and started to tinker with the console, he could try to send out a distress signal and hope his family would pick it up and rescue him. 

In the meantime he looked at the small supply box that these escape pods have, in it was a blanket, a weeks’ worth of protein-bars and water, but that was it. Really? That was all the Empire had to offer? Whoever thought of this should have thought a bit deeper on it. 

No one had picked up his distress signal that day and when the night came, it wasn’t pleasant, it was cold, much colder than Ezra anticipated on a desert-like planet. He closed the escape pod’s hatch to keep the warmth inside and snuggled into the blanket the whole night. 

The next day, he had eaten a few of the protein-bar and had some of the water. Ezra looked outside and the scenery looked the same as it did yesterday. Maybe today would be different? 

Hours of just sitting at the metal floor of the pod, Ezra grew pretty bored. He had already tried meditating and had already attempted to reach out to Kanan through their bond, but each time he did, he was met with nothingness. The Force was still there, but Kanan wasn’t. It didn’t make any sense and it left Ezra confused. 

But as Ezra focused on the Force and tried again with what seemed to be his 13th attempt, he heard metal footsteps outside. They were loud and sounded like they belonged to some large machine. 

Getting up Ezra turned around and looked outside to see what was approaching him. To his surprise and relief, it was the walker of the clones! Wolffe and Gregor if he wasn’t mistaken. 

“Thank the force” Ezra walked out from the Escape pod and went running toward the old walker. 

“Hey! Hey!” He yelled happily at the clones, he could see Wolffe at the balcony. “You guys don’t know how happy I am to see you both!”

That when Wolffe started to shoot at him and Ezra stopped running and ignited his green lightsaber and deflected the shoot. 

“Stop! It’s me, Ezra!” he yelled at the clone, he didn’t want to hurt him, but Wolffe was known to be the unstable one of the clones, he certainly didn’t trust any Jedi. 

“Don’t move or I shoot again” Wolffe warned and still aimed at the kid, the walker got closer until it stopped in front of Ezra and now Gregor joined his brother also holding his own weapon. 

“Identify yourself!” Gregor demanded and aimed his weapon at the kid. 

“What? We met like a month ago! Could I just contact Kanan?” Ezra asked as he still held his lightsaber close just in case, but something was off, didn’t Wolffe have his scar at the right eye? So why was it on his left? 

“What do you think Wolffe? Think he is lying?” Gregor asked his brother in a snickered short laugh. 

“Maybe, I don’t trust him” Wolffe answered as he eyed the child, the kid looked around the age of 16? The kid is tal, short haircut.

“Let’s shoot him then! I haven’t had an active shooting session in a while” Gregor said excitedly, aiming his gun again at the child, this would be so much fun. 

“No, stand down! If it’s the Jedi the kid wants then it’s the Jedi he get’s” Wold said and pushed his brother inside their home. “Besides a fate from a Jedi is far worse than anyone can imagine” 

“Aww, you taking all the fun from me Wolffe,” Gregor said very disappointedly but did as his brother wished. 

“Hey kid, come on board, we have agreed to help you contact the .. Jedi,” Wolffe said grimly at the last part, he hated the Jedi, but so long they did please them then there was nothing to fear. 

Ezra waited for a moment, listening to the Force, There was no danger or a hint of a lie, so it was safe and he put his lightsaber back at his belt and walked up to the walker where Wolffe was waiting for him. 

“Thanks, like I said I just need to contact Kanan and I be off your hands,” Ezra said once more, speaking of Kanan he could still not sense him in the force, wait? Was he dead? He really hoped Kanan wasn’t dead. 

“We are contacting the Ghost as we speak, come in come in, I’m sure Kanan would be thrilled to hear from you If your story is true” Wolffe smiled and led Ezra inside. 

Ezra did follow and he could see Gregor on an old mic speaking with someone, wait maybe that was the crew? He walked closer and could now hear his Master’s voice. So he was alive and that was a relief. 

“I asked did you lose your padawan? Because you know, we found one” Gregor said amused and waited for a response from the Jedi. 

“Padawan? What are you talking about?” Kanan demand, what were those clones up to? 

“You know, Force-sensitive kid? One crashed here yesterday, Here let me show you” Gregor smirked and turned on the video-com and looked at Ezra and dragged him over. “Come on kid don’t be shy” 

Ezra was surprised by the sudden touch but did walk over and now he could see Kanan. He was on the Ghost and looked surprised, all tho the feed was in black and white.

“Hi Kanan, I know I screwed up on my last mission, but I got away,” Ezra said a bit awkwardly and added “Could you pick me up? I don’t really want to be stuck on this planet” 

There was a deep silence for a bit before Kanan's expression softened and said “Sure kid, I can pick you up, but it will take me a while before I can get there.” 

“I will be fine, I can survive a few war stories until you arrive” Ezra smiled gently and looked at the clones. 

“Right, we can keep him busy until you arrive Commander” Wolffe informed, he didn’t have time to tell stories, he would rather keep the kid busy by repairing this scrap walker of a home. 

“Good, I will be there as soon as I can,” Kanan informed before cutting off the call. 

“Well kid, you are stuck with us and oh boy do I have war stories to tell” Gregor laughed madly, he could remember most of his battles like they were from yesterday. 

“Perhaps another time, I will need the kid to repair a few of the legs” Wolffe stated and went to a crate and opened it, there he took out a few tools for the repairs they were going to do. 

“Really? You want the kid’s help? You of all people?” Gregor questioned with a look of surprise.

“Remember last time when you tried helping me? it didn’t end well, now did it?” Wolffe asked, amused. 

“Only because you didn’t warn me in time! I did everything according to your book, yet here we are, still repairing the same leg all over again” Gregor complained. He walked past Ezra and his brother and out. “If you need me I will be on the roof”

“What was that all about?” Ezra asked gently, it sounded like a small argument that ended pretty quickly as it started. 

“Nothing you need to worry about. Now come on, we just need to oil a few of the walker’s legs,” Wolffe said and led Ezra out again and walked down from the walker. 

“From your brother, it sounded like you guys repair this walker quite often.” 

“Hm? We do, this desert planet makes it hard to keep anything in functional condition. Sand gets into the joints which is our biggest problem and that's why we repair them this often” Wolffe explained to the kid as he grabbed some of the oil and started to spear the first leg joints. It seemed fine enough. 

“So what can I do to help?” Ezra asked a bit unsure, he didn’t know anything about walkers. 

“You can take that scanner and start scanning the other legs, look for any other damage” Wolffe picked up the scanning device and offered it to the kid. 

“Sure I can do that,” Ezra grabbed it and started scanning the second legs while Wolffe took care of the first one. 

That second leg seemed to be doing okay, so Ezra moved to the next one and that one seemed a bit too rusty. He was still surprised it still was functional. But the scans did mark it as okay so he just moved on to the next one. After a while he was finished and only the back leg seemed to actually need repair. 

“I’m done, so most of them are fine except that leg over there” And Ezra even pointed to it. 

“That’s unusual, that is our good leg, but I will take a look at it,” Wolffe then took the scanner and placed it in the toolbox and then handed over the oil to the kid. 

“Wait, why are you giving me this?” Ezra asked confused, now holding the oil.

“Pay attention, you need to put oil here and on all of these spots.” Wolffe now pointed to each place and gear for Ezra to see and know where to oil on the other legs. “Got it?” 

“I-I, Yeah I think so,” Ezra said, a bit unsure but tried to remember the spot Wolffe just showed him. 

“Then get to work, I will check on that last leg” Wolffe grabbed his toolbox and walked over to it while leaving Ezra to oil the other legs.

“Why did I have to get stuck with Wolffe? Why couldn’t I get to listen to the war stories from Gregor instead?” Ezra complained. He had to climb a bit to reach some of the parts he oiled, which wasn’t a big of a deal. 

Once he finished his task he had a lot of dust and sand all over his clothing, At least there weren’t any oil stains since that would be a pain to clean off. When Wolffe came to inspect Ezra’s work, he found that the kid didn’t do that bad and deemed it acceptable. He himself had managed to fix that last leg and now both of them could get back on onto the walker and get it moving again. 

Back inside, Ezra sat down on one of the chairs and looked at the time. It looked like it had taken him 1 hour to do his task, and he felt the walker move forward again. Wolffe approached Ezra. 

“Your Master sure is taking his sweet time getting here” Wolffe pointed out. 

“Yeah, but he will come,” Ezra said, confidently, he believed that Kanan would come for him. 

“Hey guys, we got visitors,” Gregor yelled from outside. 

Wolffe walked out to the balcony and looked up and saw the familiar small ship of the Phantom fly nearby. “Come on kid, it seems your Jedi has arrived” 

“Kanan,” Ezra said excitedly and made his way out and then climbed into the roof where he now watched the Phantom land. 

The door opened and a familiar Jedi walked out, looking straight at the clones before turning his attention to Ezra. The child looked healthier than he remembered and his eyes were so full of hope, life and they were blue. 

“Ezra, how I missed you my Padawan” Kanan smiled, but something was wrong with that smile. It was too wicked. 

“As I told you, not a prank. This is your student, isn’t it? I mean, of course it is. You did just call him your padawan” Gregor babbled, he really needed a hobby. 

“Kanan, are you alright?” Ezra couldn’t help but ask. He could feel Kanan through the Force now, standing before him, but his Force signature felt wrong, it was too cold, foggy and he could feel some frustrations there. 

“Of course I’m alright. Now come along, we are leaving this instant” Kanan ordered coldly while eyeing him. 

“Oh, okay.” Ezra did as told and walked inside the Phantom. Maybe Kanan was having a bad day? He couldn’t be sure, but what brother him more were Kanan’s eyes. Although they weren't his usual teal green colour, there was something unusually off about them.

He watched Kanan ignore the clones and walked in and went for the pilot seat. The Phantom once more took off into the sky until they reached space where Kanan punched in the coordinates for Lothal. When they were in hyperspace, Kanan turned around and grinned at Ezra. 

“Now, care to explain to me what happened?” he asked gently.

“Sure, Chopper and I finished our mission. We managed to reach the other rebel cell and handed over the resources they needed. But they were followed by the Empire,” Ezra started to explain and added, 

“Long story short, I acted at distraction for them to escape and well, I got capture but managed to escape and ended up here, I have no idea what happened to Chopper, but if I’m gonna guess he made it back to home” 

Ezra watched as Kanan quietly stared at him and he couldn’t help but to look at his eyes. They were un-neutral yellow, reminding Ezra a bit of Maul. but why? Why were they that colour to begin with? And more importantly, how was it that Kanan wasn’t blind?

“Hey, kid, pay attention” Kanan raised his voice in a warning manner. 

“Sorry, I got distracted,” Ezra admitted and paid his attention to Kanan again. 

“Distracted? On what exactly? There isn’t much to get distracted with inside here” Kanan demanded, his Tone holding a hint of irritation. He knew this kid better than he did himself. 

“Well, your eyes... Why aren’t they teal? And weren’t you blind?” Ezra asked, awkwardly as frowned in confusion. 

It was quiet again and Kanan's expression betrayed no emotion. Then he suddenly bursted out laughing causing Ezra to feel uneasy, it wasn’t like he said a joke or anything. 

“Oh I haven’t laughed like this in ages. Do I look blind to you? The force has changed me and don’t worry, it will change you too once we start your lessons” Kanan promised and started to think over the information he just got from the boy. He hadn’t sent him on any recent missions.

Kanan continued to look at Ezra, he noticed something. It was so small but the scar on Ezra’s face, it’s placed on his left cheek. That wasn’t right, Kanan was pretty sure it was supposed to be on the right side, after all, he was the one that had given him that scar. 

Perhaps this kid was not his padawan, maybe a clone instead? No, not a clone, no one would go to this length of trouble to clone some unknown child. He could feel the Force in the boy and it was as equally strong as it had been with his former padawan. But the question still stands, who is this boy? 

No, it didn’t matter. What did matter was that he had just been given a second chance to train a padawan and hopefully, this one would prove to be more worthy than the first one. Perhaps it was wise to explain this to the kid. The rest of the Ghost crew are going to ask questions, questions he would rather not answer. 

“Right, this is how things will go down.” Kanan crossed his arms and gave a serious look. 

“Once we reach Lothal, you will give everyone this explanation. You were stranded on Malachor, we thought you were dead but you survived and managed to get off-planet with the inquisitor’s Tie fighter. Then you contacted me for pick up since the Tie was low on fuel. Understood?” 

“But why do you want me to lie? That’s not what happened to me,” Ezra asked, he didn’t understand this. 

“They don’t need to know the truth, you’re back and that’s all that matters” Kanan pointed out. Why must the kid bring this up?

“But it’s wrong to lie, why can’t I just tell them the truth? I mean what does it matter if I got captured and crash-landed on Seelos?” 

“Because they don’t need to know that, Ezra!” Kanan snapped at him, his eyes burning with pure rage.

Ezra almost jumped off his seat, he didn’t expect that reaction from his master. He was always so patient with him and this was nothing like him. Something was very wrong here.

Kanan saw the horrified reaction of his padawan and took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. He couldn't scare the child, not if he wanted to train him. This child reminded him too much of his padawan when he had first met him, so naive and so pure in the Force. The light shines strongly in him and that needed to be fixed. 

“Answer me this, what is your name? Where did you used to live?” Kanan demanded in a dead serious tone. 

“You know my name,” Ezra replied confused. He wasn’t sure, but there was this feeling in the Force that warned him not to try out Kanan’s patience. 

“My name is Ezra Bridger, I used to live on Lothal with my parents until the Empire took them. Then I lived on the streets for a few years before meeting you guys.” 

“Hm, you didn’t lie and your story is similar, but it’s a bit different,” Kanan said thoughtfully. Even the child’s name was the same as his former padawan. 

“Kanan, what is going on? Why are you acting so strange?” Ezra asked. Why these specific questions? Why the demand to lie?

“Isn’t it obvious? I believe you are Ezra Bridger, just not my Ezra. But don’t worry, you will feel right at home with me.” Kanan mused. The thought of his padawan having a twin didn’t sound likely either, especially since the scar was the exactly the same as his padawan used to have, Despite it being on the opposite cheek.

“What do you mean I’m not your Ezra?” the child questioned in a low tone. 

Kanan studied Ezra’s confused face, it seemed like the child had no clue what was going on and was looking desperately for answers. 

“Let me enlighten you then. I used to have a Padawan that looked exactly like you kid,” Kanan started to explain his little backstory and continued. “But he perished on Malachor not that long ago, so when I got the call that my Padawan was alive? Well, you can guess my surprise.” 

“I believe you got lost and now you’re stuck with me. If you are anything like my dead padawan, then you will fit in right away with my crew.” 

Wait, Dead padawan? That couldn’t be right, but everything was so strange and Kanan wasn’t even blind and his Force signature felt alien, the clones didn’t even remember him and this just made Ezra wonder what other changes awaited him on Lothal and with the Ghost crew. Were they going to be the same or also different?

Ezra was so deep in his thoughts that he wasn’t sure what to think. But having no else to go, then perhaps he could stay with them until he could understand what happened. 

“We have arrived. Remember the explanation in case they ask,” Kanan reminded him. 

“I-I, alright, though it doesn’t mean I like it,” Ezra grumbled, it felt wrong lying to his family.

“You don’t need to like it, just do it or there will be problems,” Kanan warned and flew the Phantom down to Lothal. Soon enough they both could see the Ghost. That was when both ships connected and they were home at last.


	2. Chapter 2

Kanan walked out first and Ezra followed him down to the crew lounge where the rest of the spectres were resting. He could see Hera, Sabine and Zeb talking. 

“That was quick and look at that! You weren’t kidding, the kid is alive after all” Zeb grumbled, it wasn’t like he missed the little brat. 

“But how is Ezra even alive? You told us he died, remember?” Sabine asked suspiciously. She could see Ezra standing right in front of her, did this mean Kanan abandoned him on purpose on Malachor? She wasn’t sure, but it kind of looked like it. 

“I admit, when I saw Ezra fall down the massive Sith pyramid, I truly thought he did perish. But I have never been happier to be wrong.” Kanan replied and looked back at Ezra before adding, “Maybe you can fill us in on what happened after you fell, Ezra.” 

“I-I tried to slow my fall with the Force and when I woke up, no one was around. I managed to find the Inquisitor’s Tie fighter and left the planet,” Ezra lied. He felt like something in him burned when he told them this lie. 

“Then why didn’t you fly home? You know our location,” Hera asked, but her tone was firm, there was no sweet honey tone in it. 

Ezra felt a bit uncomfortable with her tone and he saw Kanan keeping his eyes on him, waiting for him to continue. “I didn’t have enough fuel and thus, I flew to the closest planet with a com-tower and contacted Kanan from there,” 

“What planet did you go to if your fuel tank was nearly empty?” Sabine asked curiously, she was sure he didn’t get far.

“Ziost, I picked him up from there” Kanan cut in. He then walked over to Ezra and placed his hand on top of the kid's shoulder. “Ezra managed to repair an old com-tower when I got his message I thought of it as a trap” 

“Oh, so that is why you didn’t tell us where you were going. You were only leaving to pick up the kid,” Zeb said out loud, putting the puzzle pieces together. It all made sense now.

“Exactly. So, if it was a trap, I would have taken care of it. I simply didn’t wish to waste any of your time with this matter,“ Kanan nodded. He was quite thankful for Zeb being less intelligent than the others. 

“That is a fair point actually,” Hear agreed. Her crewmates do leave on their own missions from time to time and there is no rule for one to explain as to where they were going. 

“But, of course, we are happy to have you back, Ezra,” Kanan said warmly and looked sharply at the rest of his crew who nodded in an instant. 

“We are. Things haven’t been the same after Malachor” Hera agreed, she did somewhat miss the kid. 

“You kidding? Some of my inspiration came from you, so be prepared for that” Sabine gave a playful smirk. 

“Can’t say I didn’t miss you, but it’s been too quiet around here, I don’t mind sharing quarters with you again” Zeb admitted. That somewhat was a lie, he did more than enough to enjoy the quietness, but he also didn’t wish to upset Kanan. 

“Actually, Ezra will be sleeping with me. He will have the bed above me” Kanan stated and noticed the confused faces and quickly added, “After what happened, I feel like I need reconnect with Ezra through the Force” 

“Force magic, eh? Be my guest then, the kid could never control his abilities, if you ask me” Zeb babbled, he wasn’t a fan of the Force and less about the kid when he was using said, Force. 

“I believe he has better control now, don’t you, Ezra?” Kanan asked his new padawan. 

“I can control the Force just fine. It just took me longer to understand it better” Ezra pouted, he didn’t like it when Zeb pointed out how little control he had of the Force.

“There we have it, it’s under control and if it isn't, then we will work on it” Kanan promised and then led Ezra to his room. 

“Where are you two going?” Hera asked. 

Kanan stopped and looked over at her and smiled. “Meditating. Like I said, we need to reconnect with each other and I would appreciate some silence.” 

“No problem, we will be quiet, right guys?” Heras now looked over at Sabine, Chopper and Zeb who both nodded. 

“I will be working on my art anyways” Sabine pointed out, she too could use this opportunity to focus on that. 

“Well, I might as well take a nap, wake me up if you guys need me,” Zeb said lazily and walked his way to his quarters. 

“Good, now come along, Ezra, we have a lot to catch up to do,” Kanan said and led Ezra to his chambers. 

Once inside, Kanan leads Ezra to the middle of the room and sits down. “Come, sit” 

“Okay, so we're going to reconnect by meditating?” Ezra asked quietly and sat down in front of Kanan so that they were facing each other. 

“We are. Our focus is to form a Force bond between Master and Padawan” Kanan informed and closed his eyes. 

“Alright, but how do we do that exactly?” Ezra asked a bit unsure, he never had to do this with Kanan back home, the bond just naturally formed between the two as time went by. 

“You need to take down your mental shields and trust me, this will be complicated and perhaps even painful,” Kanan explained and already started to reach through the Force. 

“Wait, why would it be painful?” Ezra didn’t like the thought of pain. 

“Because we are rushing the progress, I don’t have time to slowly bond with you. We are doing it right now in an instant, End of story” Kanan snapped, but this time he held back his anger. He had forgotten how annoying the kid could be, was he like that in Ezra's age? 

Ezra kept quiet after that, he didn’t want to annoy his master any further and so he closed his own eyes and reached out into the Force. It didn’t take long before he felt Kanan’s presence in his mind and lowered his shields like Kanan instructed him to do. 

“Good, now don’t resist,” Kanan ordered in a cold voice. 

Ezra nodded and just waited, he wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen next. Then, he felt Kanan in his mind once more. Suddenly, pain shot through him and Ezra couldn’t help but to flinch backwards.

“You need to stay focused! keep yourself open to me” Kanan’s voice echoed in Ezra’s mind. 

“But it hurts” Ezra whimpered, it felt like a sword had stabbed him through the chest. 

“Deal with it, the longer you resist, the worse the pain will become” Kanan’s voice warned if not threatened. 

Ezra wasn’t looking forward to that and he once more lowered his shields. In an instant, he felt Kanan’s presence again and more pain tore through him, causing him to cry out. He wasn’t sure how long the agony continued on for, but when it finally stopped, Ezra found himself on the floor in a fetal position in hopes of some comfort. 

“It’s done, our bond is formed” Kanan confirmed, he could now feel the kid and would now know what the boy was up to. That was the main reason for the bond in the first place to keep him in line and to have a watchful eye over Ezra. 

“Get up” Kanan ordered, he didn’t approve of this weak behaviour. 

Ezra did so, slowly. The pain was thankfully gone but he still felt uncomfortable. He too could now feel Kanan through the Force bond and it didn’t feel right, like this wasn’t Kanan at all but some stranger instead. 

“Let’s see how far you have come with your training, shall we?” Kanan walked to the door and stopped when he saw Ezra staring at him with confusion. “Come on kid, we don’t have all day,” 

“I’m not a kid, I’m 16,” Ezra said, as he had grown the past year. 

“Not to me you're not” Kanan didn’t look convinced, Ezra was still young in his eyes. 

Ezra hesitated at first but followed Kanan. They left the ship and now stood outside in the open fields when he noticed Kanan grabbing his lightsaber. 

“Ready position, I do believe that you’ve learned the lightsaber forms, correct?” Kanan asked, the kid looked old enough to know them, but he wasn’t sure. 

“Yeah, you taught them to me,” Ezra replied. He changed his stance to ready position and grabbed his own lightsaber.

“Good, then we begin.” Kanan lunged at Ezra as he ignited his red lightsaber. 

Ezra barely had time to ignite his own lightsaber and used the 3rd form to block Kanan's attack. What surprised Ezra was Kanan’s lightsaber, it was crimson red! It had left him feeling confused.

Kanan was equally surprised by Ezra's green lightsaber, but he couldn’t focus on that. He needed to test the boy. How much did this other Kanan teach him? How skilled was this Ezra compared to his own dead padawan? 

Refocusing on the battle, Kanan pressed on with a few aggressive attacks that pushed the boy back. Ezra was taken by surprise that Kanan struck at him with anger, since Jedi weren’t supposed to act out of emotion.

Kanan, however, noticed that the kid had some good reflexes and did quite well to keep up, but he lacked strength and focus. What also frustrated him was how much Ezra was holding himself back, not even once did the kid tap into the Dark Side for any advantage. He was weak and that couldn’t be allowed. 

Ezra blocked another attack and jumped backwards with a little help from the Force causing Kanan to almost stumble forward, not having seen that coming. Ezra smiled and rushed forward, raising his lightsaber to deliver a strike to the side, but, of course, Kanan saw that coming and blocked the strike before he aggressively attacked back, his lightsaber swinging furiously. 

Ezra struggled to block each, the attacks growing more powerful and before long, Ezra found himself falling back onto the ground. Even then, Kanan pressed on with his attacks, coming at the boy with another swing. Acting quickly, Ezra rolled just in time and the blade cut into the ground, scorching the soil. 

“What the?! you almost cut me!” Ezra cried out in disbelief. Kanan would never do that, and yet, here they were. 

“But you dodged it, so there is no harm done,” Kanan stated, he could feel the fear in this student from that and smirked.

Ezra couldn’t believe what he was hearing, how could that be okay? He could have lost a limb! But what also disturbed him was that smirk on Kanan’s face, it unnerved him at how malicious it looked, as if his fear brought enjoyment to his Master. 

Kanan continued to attack and Ezra, who was already shaken up from before, could hardly keep up with him now. Before he knew it, he found himself, once again, on the ground and his lightsaber next to him. 

“Pathetic. Is that all you have to show for?” Kanan asked mockingly.

Was that all he had in him? Yes, it was, and Ezra felt awful, he hadn’t done anything wrong and yet, he was being scolded for not being good enough? It had hurt him deeply, never having to had experience this before. 

“Get up, clearly we have a lot of work ahead of us,” Kanan ordered and turned off his lightsaber while eyeing the teen like a hawk. 

“Everything I have learned was from you, how can you just say it’s not good enough?” Ezra questioned, he had worked hard to get where he was. 

“Your forms are sloppy for one, second you are holding yourself back” Kanan pointed out, but to be fair the kid did pretty okay. 

“What? I gave this spar my all, I didn’t hold myself back!” Ezra protested, he almost got cut and struggled to keep Kanan off him, what more did he want? 

“But you didn't even once tap into the Dark Side to get the advantage over me” Kanan scolded disappointedly. 

Wait, the Dark Side? Why would Kanan want him to tap into it when he had warned Ezra to stay far away from it, it didn’t make any sense. Looking up at Kanan, Ezra stared at those unnatural yellow eyes and then it clicked. The red lightsaber, the unnatural coldness that wrapped around his force signature, Kanan had fallen to the Dark Side. But how.. and why...?

“What happened to you, Kanan? You have always told me to stay away from the Dark Side” Ezra said carefully, while putting his lightsaber back onto his belt. 

“Then I was a fool to tell you that” Kanan sneered. He couldn't believe the other Kanan had told Ezra to avoid the Dark Side, the very thought disgusted him. He then added, “The Dark Side gives us strength, our emotions are weapons for us to use. Why are you holding yourself back when you can break your chains?” 

Ezra wanted to argue, but he couldn’t think of a good comeback. It was only a week ago when he helped Maul on Malachor. There, he had used the dark side to enter the Sith temple, its promise for power, beckoning to be used, and when Ezra did use it, it had felt so good. 

“You know I’m right, you have felt it before haven’t you?” Kanan asked while walking slowly closer to Ezra, looking down at the child's clear sapphire eyes. He grinned knowing he was right. 

“Give in to it. Only then, will you be strong enough to defeat me and the Empire” 

“No, I can’t” Ezra looked down at his feet, this didn't sound right. 

“Yes you can, I can help you achieve this” Kanan offered. 

“I won’t do it. Last time I used the dark side, it was a disaster and I almost got everyone killed because of it” Ezra took a step backwards. 

“If they had almost died, then it was because they were weak and deserve nothing better,” Kanan said coolly.

“No, they don’t deserve that! It was my fault, I should have acted more calmly,” Ezra argued back, remembering the missions with the old clone fighters they stole. The whole place went under and there had been hardly any time for everyone to escape. 

“I can sense your guilt. I bet you don’t tap into your emotions because you are trying to protect the others, aren’t you?” Kanan spoke up and added in a teasing manner “Reality check kid, you can’t protect everyone. If they fall, then they fall because they were too weak to save themselves.” 

Ezra couldn’t believe what he was hearing, why was Kanan speaking in such a manner? He, too, cared for the others, which was why none of this was making any sense. Suddenly then Hera came out to inform them.

“Hey people, we need to get back to Chopper base” 

“We will continue this talk later, Ezra” Kanan promised, the kid was too stubborn to give in. It seemed Kanan would have to work his way around that.

“What is the situation, Hera?” Kanan asked as his attention was now on her. 

“Well, we need to leave Lothal. While you left to pick up Ezra, we got the resources we needed for our base” Hera smiled and pointed to the crates sitting in the cargo hold. 

“Good, then let us be on our way” Kanan ordered as he walked back into the ship again. 

Ezra walked inside as well and looked over at Hera and asked, “what’s inside the crates?” 

“The usual: food, weapons and fuel” Hera answered and closed the ramp behind them. “Be ready to load this off once we arrive at Chopper’s base” 

“Yeah, I can do that,” Ezra smiled. He watched Hera climb up her towards the cockpit as he followed her there. Kanan, Sabine, Zeb and even Chopper were already in their seats. 

“Strap in your seat belts, we are off to Atollon” Hera declared and flew the ship up to space before jumping into hyperspace. 

“You're going to like Chopper base, Ezra, I mean it doesn't look like much but we have come far with the building progress” Sabine informed, smiling. 

“I’m sure I’ll enjoy it” Ezra smiled back at her. Strange, Chopper base was already established, so why were they talking about it as if they are still working on it? This confused him.

But Soon enough, they exited hyperjump and before them was the planet Atollon, the planet's red surface peeking through the viewport. Hera flew the Ghost down to their base and from the looks of it, the base was half-built. 

Ezra blinked a few times, not believing what he was seeing. He knew they had finished the base and yet, here it was before him half-finished? But how? This didn’t make any sense, how could the base have not been completed?

Then, he felt Kanan shake his shoulder gently and say “Focus, we need to unload our cargo, so get to it.” 

“I will get right to it,” Ezra replied and walked down to the cargo hold, where he started to unload the crates down to their new base. 

Sabine jumped in to help him out and it didn’t take long for them to unload everything. The people on the base were quick to pick up the crate and put them to use. 

Chopper, Zeb, Hera and Kanan walked towards the base talking to some of the people there. 

“Hey, let me show you around the base,” Sabine offered kindly. 

“Sure, where to off first?” Ezra asked. Of course, he knew this base layout like the back of his hand, but it would look strange if he didn’t accept.

Sabine smiled and led Ezra down to the briefing room that was not even a room but, instead, it was out in the open. She continued to show him where the cargo and storage areas were. Everything looked exactly as Ezra had remembered, except for the fact that the base wasn’t even finished. 

Looking out at the landscape, Ezra noticed that the sun was going down and that the temperature was starting to drop, earning a shiver from the boy. “Thanks for the tour, but I think I’m going to go back to the Ghost” 

“What? Already? You haven’t even asked me any question about the base yet” Sabine said, a bit disappointed. 

“Well, I’m tired after my very long day” Ezra yawned to prove his point and added “See you in the morning” 

Ezra walked his way back to the Ghost, he made his way to Kanan’s room, he did say that Ezra would be sharing this room in order to reconnect with each other. Ezra climbed up on the top bunk and laid down. He had not realised how exhausted he was from the events of that day, and slowly drifted to sleep. 

At first, there was only darkness, but as Ezra dreamt on, the dream began to slowly change. Now, he was standing at the outpost that was melting down the old clone Y-wing starfighters. In front of him were Rex and Sabine, and from the looks of it, they were fighting stormtroopers who outnumbered them by the dozen. 

“Oh no,” Ezra realized that they would soon both will be overwhelmed and get captured. 

He grabbed his lightsaber, Igniting it in an instant, and ran to their aid as fast as he possibly could. But as Ezra desperately was trying to get to them, he watched them getting shot down by the stormtroopers. Fear gripped at his body as he watched their bodies collapse to the floor. 

“NO!!” Ezra yelled in disbelief, Sabine and Rex couldn’t be gone, they just couldn’t!

The stormtroopers aimed their weapons at Ezra and fired without any hesitation, Ezra used his lightsaber to deflect the shots back at them, some of the troopers falling dead to the ground while others kept shooting at him. 

Tears fell from his cheeks and Ezra used the Force to push the remaining stormtroopers as far as he possibly could, causing them to slam into the door before they collapsed to the ground, unconscious from the impact. He then runs over to his fallen family and notices blood dropping down from their wounds. 

“Hang in there, I will call for help” Ezra shook in shock and grabbed his com. 

Sabine and Rex both looked so weak, their blood pooling beneath them, the blast wounds having done a number on them.

“We trusted you, but you failed us, letting us die” Sabine said, her voice frail, holding a slight tremble as she forced the word out.

Ezra’s heart broke from those words “No, I ran as fast as I could to save you both!” 

“You weren't fast enough to save us,” Rex told him weakly, he grasped at the wound in his stomach in a feeble attempt to keep the blood from leaking out. 

“You weren’t strong enough! you could have helped us! A few stormtroopers are nothing to you” Sabine cried out, her face already losing its colour. “You abandoned us to the stormtroopers, it’s your fault!” 

“No, that’s not true!” Ezra sobbed, shaking his head as more tears fell.

“But it is true, we are dying all because you aren’t strong enough to protect us,” Rex said, choking out blood before succumbing to death. 

“Rex?! No no no, come back! Rex!” Ezra yelled, sobbing into the dead clone’s chest. 

“You have failed us, Ezra, you let us die,” Sabine told him with her last few breaths before she, too, had fallen silent, perishing from the loss of blood. 

“NO! I would never abandon any of you!” Ezra wailed, still clinging onto Sabine’s chest. “I wasn’t fast enough, I’m so sorry!”

“I agree, you are weak, just like them” a familiar voice spoke up. 

Turning around, Ezra saw the Grand Inquisitor standing there, smirking wickedly at him in amusement.

“No! You are supposed to be dead!” Ezra yelled at him, how was he here?! 

The Inquisitor chuckled at the boy’s distress “The dark side gives us power to cheat death, but alas, that cannot be said about your friends. Quite a pity, really” 

“That’s a lie! No one can cheat death- that’s impossible!” Ezra stated and stood up holding his lightsaber ready. 

“And yet, here I am in the flesh” the Inquisitor grinned, taking out his own lightsaber, igniting both ends of his weapon in an instant and slowly walked his way toward Ezra. 

“I tried to help you. The dark side is your true path and yet, you pushed it away. You have no one, but yourself to blame! If you had just accepted my training, then perhaps your little friends would still be alive” he teased the teenager.

“No! Stay away!” Ezra took a few steps back, too afraid of what would happen next. 

“Hm, I can sense your fear and is that guilt? Why yes it is, your guilt for not being strong enough to save your friends” the Inquisitor lunged down at him with his lightsaber. 

“Stop it!” Ezra somehow managed to block him, he was no match against this guy, it took Kanan a great deal of skill and patients to kill him. 

“Angry, are we? Good, use that anger, perhaps then you might strong enough kill me” The Inquisitor grinned. He then attacked the teen from above with a strong downwards slash. 

Ezra tried to protect himself against the Inquisitors attack, mostly using form 3, but as they kept duelling, he was forced backwards as the Inquisitor pushed onwards with ferocity that the boy had never seen before.

Then, Ezra almost fell backwards when he reached the edge of the platform, and glared at the Inquisitor. “I won’t use it!” 

“What a pity, then you are no use to me, boy” the Inquisitor swung his lightsaber at Ezra, who wasn’t fast enough to block the attack. 

“AHhhh” Ezra cried out in pain as he fell to his knees, looking down at his chest to see a deep burn searing across his flesh and breathing had become suddenly very painful. His blurry vision still caught the sight of the Inquisitor smiling wickedly down at him. 

“You truly are weak boy, not even worth training.” 

Then everything went pitch black and Ezra woke with a start, shaking and covered in sweat. He was back in his bed and sitting up, he ran a hand through his damp hair as he wildly scanned the dark room.

“It was just a dream … just a nightmare … I’m fine,” Ezra told himself in an attempt to calm himself down, but he couldn’t. The dream itself felt so real, to real for his liking. 

Reaching through the Force, he could feel everyone's presence, Sabine, Hera, Zeb and Kanan’s, they all were safe and fast asleep, this did calm him down a bit. Looking down at the time, he could see that it was still early morning, around 5. 

Slowly and quietly, Ezra climbed down from his bunk bed and made his way out of Kanan’s room.


	3. Chapter 3

Ezra quietly sneaked out of Kanan’s room, he needed some fresh air to clear his mind. He used the refresher to change and quietly walked down to the cargo bay to leave the ship, hoping that the sound of the lowering ramp didn’t wake up the rest of his family. 

The cool, crisp morning air brushed against his face, making him feel more awake than previously. Ezra continued outwards into the barren wastelands of Atollon, a few spiders staring at him as he went, but showed no signs of malice. Ezra wasn’t sure where he was going and at this point, he didn’t think too deeply about it either. The nightmare from just a few moments ago was still fresh in his mind, seeing Sabine and Rex die before him because he was too weak to even defend himself was quite a terror.

Ezra passed a few of the odd large plants and stones as he tried to forget his nightmare, but the images of his dead comrades kept flashing up in his mind. They frightened him, causing his cheast to tighten in fear of losing his loved ones due to his incompetence. Too caught up in his worries and thoughts, Ezra didn’t notice where he was going until he walked into a stone. 

“I know you are out there, come forward.” a loud intimidating voice said. 

But the voice sounded familiar to Ezra like he had heard this person before, but who was he? Looking around, He saw no one in the area. Perhaps they were hiding and he decided to answer the question. “Ezra Bridger, I wasn’t aware of anyone else living on this planet.” 

“I live here human,” the voice answered. 

Ezra tried to think about the voice and focused on it, trying to remember who it belonged to. “Hey wait a minute, you’re Bendu, aren’t you? Oh, it’s so good to hear a familiar voice.” 

The voice stayed quiet for a moment, confused as to how this human could possibly know his name. “I take it you have heard of me in legends?”

“Legends? we met a few months ago, you helped me and Kanan, remember?” Ezra reminded him and still tried to spot the large force user, but he couldn’t see him anywhere. “And why are you hiding? Normally you would show yourself with the big horns and a beard.” 

This caught Bendu's attention - the human had seen him before? Impossible. And yet, perhaps it could be possible, but more information will be needed. “I do not believe our paths have crossed... young one…”

“But we did meet before, how else would I know who you are.” Ezra pointed out and now felt something was staring at him from behind him, turning around Ezra saw Bendu and he looked just as he last remembered him. 

“Hmm, I believe...” the Bendu said very deep in thought as he rubbed his chin. “I believe you are out of place.” 

“Out of place? What is that supposed to mean?” Ezra asked, confused. Why couldn’t this guy give more of a clear answer rather than his typical vague riddles. 

“It means you do not belong here.” He could still sense the teen’s confusion and added, “I think you have met me before, just another version of me.” 

“Another version? Like someone exactly like you? But there can’t be two of you… can there?” the teen asked, trying to understand.

“There can only be one. You, Ezra Bridger, do not belong in this universe, especially in a world where you are supposed to be dead. I fear that if you stay, your fate will be the same.” Bendu said and pointed to the young human, hoping that he understood his words. 

Ezra looked in Bendu with wide eyes, full of disbelief and horror. “And yet... Kanan had also mentioned before that I was dead… But that’s impossible.” 

“Did he now, hmm? And just who is this ‘Kanan’ you speak of?” Bendu asked curiously. Now, this was quite interesting, it would mean that there was another person out there that knew the truth about the teen and that in itself can be dangerous. 

“Kanan is my Jedi Master, he has trained me in the way of the Force… however, recently he has been acting strangely,” Ezra explained and looked down at his feet, remembering their spar, the red blade almost cutting him down... the excruciating pain of when their bond was strengthened. 

“Strangely how?” Bendu demanded, his voice underlying a growing concern.

“Well, he is different... I guess... The last time I saw him, he was blind and not consumed by the dark side. And worst of all, he now wants me to use the dark side! Something he had always warned me not to do! It's just all so strange..." was all Ezra could say, finding it difficult to speak about his father figure in such a way. It was like admitting a truth that he had yet been able to swallow. 

“Don’t you see, Ezra Bridger! This Kanan is not your Master, your true Master, the Kanan that you know, is somewhere beyond the stars!” Bendu revealed and he could feel Ezra’s sudden realisation in the force. “Ha, so you understand! Listen carefully, you do not have much time and thus must find a way back home before it’s too late.” 

“What do you mean? How much time do I have until then?” Ezra asked in concern. But this explained so much. Ezra now realised that he was in another dimension that looked to be the same as his own but wasn’t. 

“Hmm... I cannot say. This has never happened before. However, I suggest you find your way home, Ezra Bridger, where you truly belong otherwise you are in deep danger I fear.” Bendu answered and he turned to look towards the left upon hearing a speeder bike nearby. Someone else was approaching. “It seems our meeting has come to an end.”

“What, no! Don’t go! I need to know how to get home, Bendu!” Ezra shouted, however, Bendu was gone in a blink of an eye and he was left standing alone.

“Great, now he is gone,” Ezra muttered under his breath and tried to think of Bendu’s warning. He said that he needed to get home or else he would share the same fate as this realm’s Ezra… how exactly did that version of him die? Would he have the same death? Ezra hoped not as these thoughts alone were quite unsettling. 

“Ezra!” Kanan’s voice yelled at the teen as he drove his speeder bike over to him. “Where have you been? Do you have any idea what the hour it is?!” 

Ezra took a step back as it was quite clear Kanan wasn’t happy with him at the moment. “I’m sorry, I just went for a morning walk.” 

“Morning walk? It’s not morning anymore, it’s afternoon!” Kanan snapped, his yellow eyes looking down at his Padawan with great annoyance. “Get on the bike, we're going back to base this instant.” 

Afternoon? That can’t be, maybe he had walked a few hours but he couldn’t have talked to Bendu for that long. Sensing Kanan anger in the Force, Ezra didn’t argue and did as he was asked. Once on the bike, Kanan drove back to base.

When they arrived, Kanan led Ezra back to the Ghost where the rest of the crew were waiting for them. 

“They are here,” Zeb shouted from the cargo bay to the others. 

“Finally, then we can get going.” Hera walked in from the small corridor to the cargo bay. “I will comm Sabine to return to the ship.” 

“We’re leaving? Where are we going?” Ezra couldn’t help but wonder, did they search for him just because they needed him for a mission? 

“We are just going to visit an Imperial town, help people out as we always do,” Hera replied as she made her way to the cockpit.

Ezra wanted to ask more, but the answer was simple and short and if they were going to free a town from the Empire's grasp, then it made sense why they would look for him. Ezra made his way to the cockpit alongside Kanan, there they waited for about 5 to 10 minutes until Sabine showed up. 

“Everyone is here, good. Now as you all know our next mission is to free a town from the Empires control.” Hera explained to everyone as she flew the Ghost to space and jumped to hyperspace. 

“How many Bucketheads can we expect?” Zeb asked Nonchalantly as he leaned back into his seat.

“From our intel, not many. There are only a few Stormtroopers left in that town so this shouldn’t be too difficult for us,” Hera informed them and soon enough they exited hyperspace and before them laid a planet. She flew the ship down to it and located the town easily with the given map. “Get ready to roll everyone!” 

Ezra followed the crew to the cargo-bay. There they waited until Hera landed the ship in the town and they all ran out from the ship. Ezra watched as Kanan ran forward with his red lightsaber. He could hear some shooting, screaming and looked over at Sabine and Zeb, who were busy shooting down Stormtroopers. The people screamed in fear as they ran and hid in their homes. 

Ezra didn’t understand why the people were afraid? his family had come here to save these people from the Empire’s hand. This was strange, but he pushed the feeling down and ran forward and disarmed one of the Stormtroopers and reflected a blast back at another. 

“Is that all of them?” Zeb asked as the smoke cleared, enabling him to see his surroundings. There were no more opposing forces left. “Well, that was too easy if you ask me.”

“Perhaps, I get to work with Ezra,” Sabine said and ran to Ezra. “Mind helping me?” 

“Sure, I can help,” Ezra said a bit awkwardly and followed her to a few houses. Sabine handed him a few grenades and Ezra's pupils widened in shock at the bombs. 

“What are you doing?! We can’t plant grenades! People live here!” Ezra exclaimed in disbelief and ripped the detonators from the walls before deactivating them.

“Hey! We need to plant these, it’s for their own good.” Sabine insured him and took the grenades from Ezra’s hands and put them right back at the building wall again. 

“No! We have never needed to use grenades on towns before! These people will suffer if we blow up this place.” Ezra tried to convince Sabine to see reason.

“If you aren’t going to help me then go to Kanan,” Sabine told him and continued her work by planting more of the bombs over town. She wasn’t sure what it was but she felt this stinging feeling in her chest of Ezra’s words. The feeling was a familiar one. Guilt. Ezra had a good point, but she wouldn’t focus on that. She had a job to do and she wasn’t about to go soft now. 

“No, I won’t go, not unless I know they are deactivated,” Ezra said stubbornly, he wasn’t going to let innocent people suffer. 

“You are unbelievable! Fine! I will turn them off.” Sabine pressed a button on her wrist commlink and all the bombs turned off. “There, happy now?” 

“I am. Please don’t turn them on,” Ezra begged before leaving to meet with Kanan in the centre of the town. He gathered the people around in a circle and they looked so afraid as the kids hid behind their parents. With every step he took towards Kanan and the villagers, the stronger the foreboding feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach became. Much like Sabine with the bombs, this didn't seem right either.

“Kanan, what’s happening? I thought we came to help them?” Ezra said a bit confused. 

“You traitors! We were fine before any of you showed up!” a man from the crowd yelled. 

“Yeah! All you rebels have ever done is bring destruction upon our lands!” another yelled in agreement and then the people started shouting: “Murderers!” “Get out of here!” “Long live the Empire!” 

“Enough!” Kanan yelled more aggressively, hoping that the people would shut up, but they didn’t and his patients were at its limit.

“Hey, calm down! We just freed you all from the Empire!” Ezra tried his best to try to quiet down the crowd but wasn’t very successful as they seemed rather triggered by his words. 

“Freed us?! From what! Our only hope of defence? You rebels have taken everything!!” a woman yelled at Ezra and spat at him. 

Ezra was quite taken aback by such a response. Never had he faced a crowd that wished for the Empire to stay in control of their town before. This was completely unexpected. But the question was why? The Empire was horrible towards its citizens, so why would these people want the Imperials to stay in control? 

Before Ezra could think of why, he heard a gunshot and from the people who had protested, a man now lay dead on the floor. Ezra turned around and saw Kanan holding his blaster pistol who continued to shoot down the petrified citizens.

Ezra was too shaken with shock and fear that he couldn’t move, his body trembling at what he was witnessing. Never had he imagined Kanan killing innocent citizens. He needed to do something and Ezra’s limps trembled as he cried out, “NO! Stop it! You are killing them!” 

Ezra ran towards Kanan, his eyes on the blaster, if he could take it away then he could end. However, as he got close. However, just as he was within grasp of Kanan, Ezra felt an invisible force stopping him in his tracks. Desperately, Ezra tried to move his legs, but found that he couldn’t. Looking up, he could see a furious Kanan stretching out one hand towards him, keeping the boy in place.

“Please stop this, Kanan,” Ezra begged once more, hoping to knock some sense into the Jedi and great mercy to these people.

“You crossed the line, Ezra.” Kanan gritted out, irritated, and pulled Ezra toward him, replacing the Force’s hold with his own fingers around the teen’s throat. The next few words dripped with venom as Kanan tightened his grip, effectively cutting off Ezra’s air supply.

“You will not question my decision on how I or this crew runs things! These people either join us or die and that is the way how things are! Understood?!” 

Ezra could barely hear Kanan as his vision began to blur as he struggled to breathe in the air that he so desperately needed. Unwillingly, Ezra complied and feverishly shook his head in hopes that Kanan will let him go. And he did. With one final tightening of his grip, Kanan let go. Falling to the ground with a thud, Ezra coughed as he took in deep breaths, his bruised neck aching where the Jedi’s fingers had been. 

“I…” Ezra was about to speak but never got the chance to when Kanna backhanded him causing him to fall backwards onto the cold, coarse ground. With his vision still blurry, Ezra clutched his cheek which stung with pain. 

“Silence! You digsust me, Ezra.” Kanan spat out, still pointing his blaster at the terrified villagers who feared for their own lives after witnessing the deaths of their own beloved neighbours.

Kanan began to shoot again at the villagers while Ezra sat hopelessly on the ground, only able to watch in horror. 

“Why do you care for these people, Ezra? You owe them nothing, after all. ‘They’ should be the ones bowing to you, not the other way around. You’re stronger than they are… and yet… it would seem that you still pity them, going as far as to even wanting to save them.” 

A few more fell dead to the ground, causing the terrified innocents to cry even louder than before. 

Feeling desperate to do something, Ezra forced himself off the ground only to be kicked in the ribs. He cried out in pain as he was met with the ground again, clenching his fists as he listened to the sobbing villagers. From his spot on the ground, he could see the children hiding in the embraces of their parents, who desperately sought to protect their family.

“Please,” Ezra begged and once more got up trying to stop Kanan who continued shooting. He didn't want to hurt Kanan as desperate as Ezra was to stop Kanan, he couldn't seem to separate this Kanan from the one he loved and respected. Kanan halted his assault on the people to swing a punch towards Ezra who was able to dodge it in a nick of time. The Jedi’s fist hit the teen square in the jaw, causing him to topple over from the impact.

The rest of the crew had stopped what they were doing and just watched Kanan teach Ezra a lesson.

“Ezra, stand down!” Sabine warned, her eyes looking down at him in pity. 

Ezra stared into Kanan’s cold yellow eyes and realised that he couldn’t stop him unless it included harming him. Stubbornly, Ezra got up again, he can't stand for this.

“Kid, you’re really starting to wear out my patience,” Kanan warned, his grip tightening on the blaster. “Stand down or do you require another lesson?” 

“I will take that lesson,” Ezra muttered out before leaping forward. Just as he dodged an incoming fist, he ignited lightsaber and sliced Kanan’s blaster in half, thus ending this massacre. Quickly turning around, he shouted at the villagers to go and run as far as they possibly could. 

Ezra turned off his lightsaber, putting it back where it belonged and watched as the remaining people ran desperately towards their landspeeders, taking this opportunity to live another day.

“Are you alight Kanan?” Zeb asked, when he joined the group, slightly impressed at the teen’s ability to disarm the Jedi.

“I’m fine!” Kanan growled before turning his attention to the Mandalorian. He felt furious towards Ezra, but couldn't help to feel pride. The boy had guts for standing up against him, so much untapped potential that’s for sure. “Are the bombs planted?”

“They are. I planted them all over the town as planned.” Sabine whispered and added. “Recoding now.” 

“Good, we need to show the Empire who is boss.” Kanan made his way back to the ship and Zeb followed closely behind. 

Sabine slowly walked over to Ezra. “You know, you shouldn't challenge Kanan like that, it will only leave you beaten up.” 

Ezra looked at her for a moment, not sure what to say. She nor Zeb stepped in to stop the killing and by Sabine’s response. It sounded like she didn’t want to get involved. “Yeah, I noticed.” 

“Come on, we need to leave and ‘please’ don’t provoke Kanan any further. I say this for your own good,” Sabine told him with concern. She didn’t want to see Ezra hurt, Especially seeing him now with several bruises and cuts from defying Kanan earlier.

“I think he is already provoked,” Ezra muttered as he walked along Sabine's right side. His whole body hurt, screaming in pain with every step he took, but he forced himself to move forward as he boarded the Ghost. They took their time getting to the cockpit and once seated, Hera took off.

“We are clear. Sabine, detonate your ‘presents’,” Hera said as she turned the ship so that they could see the town. Ezra’s eyes widened as he looked over to Sabine with concern and disbelief. ‘She wouldn’t… would she?’ 

“Right, here it goes.” Sabine then pressed a button on her wrist com and the town below them exploded in all kinds of colours, leaving nothing but ruins. 

“Beautiful, Sabine. Like always.” Kanan smiled pleased. “Once you are done recording, give the data to Hera. Fulcrum will be most pleased with our work.”

“Sure thing, I will have it ready as soon as possible,” Sabine replied while she clicked on a button with her wrist-comm. 

Ezra still looked through the viewport, horrified at what his family had done to the town. It has been completely destroyed and he couldn’t take his eyes from it. Guilt consumed him, feeling that a part of this was his fault, helping the Spectres take hold of the village. 

“Ezra? You need to snap out of it.” Sabine whispered to him while looking at the others, hoping that they couldn’t hear their conversation. Fortunately, it looked like they, the rest of the crew were too busy engaged in their own conversation. 

“How… how could you do this, Sabine? There were more people down there...” Ezra whispered, feeling betrayed by Sabine. He had ‘trusted’ her when she said she would deactivate the bombs, never had he imagined that his family would blow up a village like that… especially one filled with innocent people.

Sabine shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Once again, she felt this sensation of guilt in her conscience and she shifted her eyes away from Ezra, unable to keep eye contact. Why was it that he somehow managed to make her feel this way when all these years it hadn’t bothered her in the slightest? 

“I never expected this from you, Sabine,” Ezra said quite disappointed as he stared at her with sad defeated eyes. He then got up and walked to the door going back down to the lounge area as he sat down at the couch, feeling concerned about what happened today.

However, this explained everything Bendu had told him even though Ezra didn’t like to admit it. No way was this crew his real family, nor was this Kanan the one he loved and cared about since this Kanan was just. “Too… evil… and brutal, too.”

Ezra started to now wonder how he ended up here. It had all started with the clones when he escaped the star destroyer- that was it! He had escaped the ship while it was still in hyperspace and that in itself was quite dangerous, making him feel lucky that he had even made it out alive in the first place. Could he reenact the situation to go back home? But what if he ends up stranded in another dimension instead of his own instead?

All these questions made his head hurt, it was too much, but the question still stands, how would he find a safe way back to his own world? A way back to his real family? But for now, it would be best and safest if he played along with this Ghost crew within reason, killing innocent was a big no on his list. 

“I need to find a way home,” Ezra mumbled to himself and he would need to find a way fast. By no means did he want to end up dead like this universe’s Ezra.


End file.
